Several Dexter Regional High School students suspended for hazing incident

DEXTER, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-- More than 10 students from Dexter Regional High School have been suspended after the high school's principal said a hazing incident took place during a football banquet, that turned into a lock-in sleep over at the school November 16th and 17th.

Principal Stephen Bell said around 5 o'clock in the morning on November 17th, several members of the school's football team were involved in hazing incidents that were in violation of the schools hazing policy.

"It was a very serious incident. When we got knowledge of it we started the process on Monday morning when we got back to school, interviewing a lot of kids starting with the victims working our way backwards all the way through the parents," Bell said.

Bell said all of the kids involved are minors. He declined to go on record to say what exactly happened, but the school is working with the police department, which is investigating.

"That's gonna take a long time that debriefing process in asking those honest questions of ourselves, the administrators, the teachers, the parents, the coaches, even the kids themselves that were there. 'How did this happen? Where did this come from?'" Bell said.

According to Bell, those involved were suspended from school and other athletic activities. Suspensions from school ranged from one to 10 days. Athletic suspensions ranged from one week to more than a month.

"These kids had the handbook from day one. They know what the hazing policy is," Bell said

Bell said he was surprised when he found out what happened, but he hopes the school uses this as a lesson so it doesn't happen again.

"We want this to be an educational opportunity. At the end of the day that we learn from this as a school as a community that something positive comes out of this," Bell said.

Dexter Police Sgt. Alan Grinnell said the case is being investigated and there could be criminal charges pending the results of the investigation. Grinnell also declined to comment on what incidents took place.